Black-legged Kittiwake

Rissa tridactyla

The black-legged kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Larus tridactylus. The English name is derived from its call, a shrill 'kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake'. In North America, this species is known as the black-legged kittiwake to differentiate it from the red-legged kittiwake, but in Europe, where it is the only member of the genus, it is often known just as kittiwake. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 3,049 times across 30 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Black-legged Kittiwake on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 13°C (typically 9 to 18°C, from 5 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 58°N in October to 72°N in June, about 1,600 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

Download every area as CSV

Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.